Jonas on a Farm in Winter Read online

  JONAS ON A FARM IN WINTER.

  BY JACOB ABBOTT

  Author of the Rollo Books

  MDCCCLI.

  Jonas stopping at the house of Mr. Edwards.]

  PREFACE.

  This little work, with its companion, _Jonas On A Farm In Summer_,is intended as the continuation of a series, the first two volumesof which, _Jonas's Stories_ and _Jonas A Judge_, have already beenpublished. They are all designed, not merely to interest and amusethe juvenile reader, but to give him instruction, by exemplifyingthe principles of honest integrity, and plain practical good sense,in their application to the ordinary circumstances of childhood.

  CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER I.Morning

  CHAPTER II.Commanding And Obeying

  CHAPTER III.Franco

  CHAPTER IV.Dog Lost

  CHAPTER V.Signs Of A Storm

  CHAPTER VI.The Rescue

  CHAPTER VII.A Fire

  CHAPTER VIII.The Carding-Mill

  CHAPTER IX.Difficulty

  CHAPTER X.A Surprise

  CHAPTER XI.The Snow Fort, Or Good For Evil

  CHAPTER I.

  MORNING

  Early one winter morning, while Jonas was living upon the farm, in theemployment of Oliver's father, he came groping down, just beforedaylight, into the great room.

  The great room was, as its name indicated, quite large, occupying aconsiderable portion of the lower floor of the farmer's house. There wasa very spacious fireplace in one side, with a settle, which was a longseat, with a very high back, near it. The room was used both for kitchenand parlor, and there was a great variety of furniture in differentparts of it. There were chairs and tables, a bookcase with a desk below,a loom in one corner by a window, and a spinning-wheel near it. Then,there were a great many doors. One led out into the back yard, one upstairs, one into a back room,--which was used for coarse work, and whichwas generally called the kitchen,--and one into a large store closetadjoining the great room.

  Jonas groped his way down stairs; but as soon as he opened the greatroom door, he found the room filled with a flickering light, which camefrom the fireplace. There was a log there, which had been buried in theashes the night before. It had burned slowly, through the night, and thefire had broken out at one end, which now glowed like a furnace, andilluminated the whole room with a faint red light.

  Jonas went up towards the fire. The hearth was very large, and formed ofgreat, flat stones. On one side of it was a large heap of wood, whichJonas had prepared the night before, to be ready for his fire. On theother side was a black cat asleep, with her chin upon her paws. When thecat heard Jonas coming, she rose up, stretched out her fore paws, andthen began to purr, rubbing her cheeks against the bottom of the settle.

  "Good morning, Darco," said Jonas. "It is time to get up."

  The cat's name was Darco.

  Jonas took a pair of heavy iron tongs, which stood by the side of thefire, and pulled forward the log. He found that it had burned through,and by three or four strokes with the tongs, he broke it up into largefragments of coal, of a dark-reddish color. The air being thus admitted,they soon began to brighten and crackle, until, in a few minutes, therewas before him a large heap of glowing and burning coals. He put a logon behind, then placed the andirons up to the log, and a great forestickupon the andirons. He placed the forestick so far out as to leave aconsiderable space between it and the backlog, and then he put the coalsup into this space,--having first put in a slender stick, resting uponthe andirons, to keep the coals from falling through. He then placed ona great deal more wood, and he soon had a roaring fire, which crackledloud, and blazed up into the chimney.

  "Now for my lantern," said Jonas.

  So saying, he took down a lantern, which hung by the side of the fire.The lantern was made of tin, with holes punched through it on all sides,so as to allow the light to shine through; and yet the holes were notlarge enough to admit the wind, to blow out the light.

  Jonas opened the lantern, and took out a short candle from the socketwithin. Just as he was lighting it, the door opened, and Amos came in.

  "Ah, Jonas," said he, "you are before me, as usual."

  "Why, the youngest hand makes the fire, of course," said Jonas.

  "Then it ought to be Oliver," said Amos,--"or else Josey."

  "There! I promised to wake Oliver up," said Jonas.

  "O, he's awake; and he and Josey are coming down. They have found outthat there is snow on the ground."

  "Is there much snow?" asked Jonas.

  "I don't know," said Amos; "the ground seems pretty well covered. Ifthere is enough to make sledding, you are going after wood to-day."

  "And what are you going to do?" said Jonas.

  "I am going up among the pines to get out the barn frame, I believe."

  Here a door opened, and Oliver came in, followed by Josey shiveringwith the cold, and in great haste to get to the fire.

  "Didn't your father say," said Amos to Oliver, "that he was going withme to-day, to get out the timber for the barn frame?"

  "Yes," said Oliver, "he is going to build a great barn next summer. ButI'm going up into the woods with Jonas, to haul wood. There's plenty ofsnow."

  "I'd go too," said Josey, "if it wasn't so cold."

  "It won't be cold in the woods," said Jonas. "There's no wind in thewoods."

  While they had been talking thus, Jonas had got his lantern ready, andhad gone to the door, and stood there a minute, ready to go out.

  "Jonas," said Josey, "are you going out into the barn?"

  "Yes," said Jonas.

  "Wait a minute, then, for me, just till I put on my other boot."

  Jonas waited a minute, according to Josey's request, and then they allwent out together.

  They found the snow pretty deep, all over the yard, but they wadedthrough it to the barn. They had to go through a gate, which led theminto the barn-yard. From the barn-yard they entered the barn itself, bya small door near one corner.

  There were two great doors in the middle of the barn, made so largethat, when they were opened, there was space enough for a large load ofhay to go in. Opposite these doors there was a space floored over withplank, pretty wide, and extending through the barn to the back side.This was called the barn floor. On one side was a place divided off forstables for the horses, and on the other side was the _tie-up_, a placefor the oxen and cows. There was also the bay, and the lofts for hay andgrain; and at the end of the tie-up there was a door leading into acalf-pen, and thence, by a passage behind the calf-pen, to a work-shopand shed. The small door where the boys came in, led to a long andnarrow passage, between the tie-up and the bay.

  They walked along, Jonas going before with his lantern in his hand. Thecattle which had lain down, began to get up, and the horses neighed intheir stalls; for the shining of the lantern in the barn was thewell-known signal which called them to breakfast.

  Jonas clambered up by a long ladder to the hay-loft, to pitch down somehay, and Josey and Oliver followed him; while Amos remained below to"feed out" the hay, as he called it, as fast as they pitched it down. Itwas pretty dark upon the loft, although the lantern shed a feeble lightupon the rafters above.

  "Boys," said Jonas, "it is dangerous for you to be up here; I'd ratheryou'd go down."

  "Well," said Oliver, and he began to descend.

  "Why?" said Josey; "I don't think there's any danger."

  "Yes," said Jonas, "a pitchfork wound is worse than almost any other. Itis what they call a _punctured_ wound."

  "What kind of a wound is that?" said Josey.

  "I'll tell you some other time," said Jonas. "But don't stay up here. Youdon't obey so well as Oliver. Go down and give the old General somehay."

&
nbsp; The old General was the name of a large white horse, quite old andsteady, but of great strength. When he was younger, he belonged to ageneral, who used to ride him upon the parade, and this was the originof his name.

  Josey, at this proposal, made haste down the ladder, and began to putsome hay over into the old General's crib. He then went round into theGeneral's stall, and, patting him upon the neck, he asked him if hisbreakfast was good.

  In the mean time, Oliver opened the great barn doors, and, taking ashovel, he began to clear away the snow from before them. The sky in theeast was by this time beginning to be quite bright; and a considerabledegree of light from the sky, and from the new-fallen snow, came intothe barn. Josey got a shovel, and went out to help Oliver. After theyhad shoveled away the snow from the great barn doors, they went to thehouse, and began to clear the steps before the doors, and to make pathsin the yards. They worked in this way for half an hour, and then, justas the sun began first to show its bright, glittering rays above thehorizon, they went into the house. They found that the great fire whichJonas had built, was burnt half down; the breakfast-table was set, andthe breakfast itself was nearly ready.

  The boys came to the fireplace, to see what they were going to have forbreakfast.

  "Boys," said the farmer's wife, while she was turning her cakes, "go andcall Amos in to family prayers,--and Jonas."

  "You go, Oliver," said Josey.

  Oliver said nothing, but obeyed his mother's direction. He went into thebarn-yard, and he found Amos and Jonas at work in a shed beyond, gettingdown a sled which had been stowed away there during the summer. It was alarge and heavy sled, and had a tongue extending forward to draw it by.

  "What are you getting out that sled for?" said Oliver.

  "To haul wood on," said Jonas. "We're going to haul wood afterbreakfast, and I want to get all ready."

  There was another smaller and lighter sled, which had been upon the topof the heavy one, before Amos and Jonas had taken it off. This smallersled had two shafts to draw it by, instead of a tongue. Jonas knew bythis, that it was intended to be drawn by a horse, while the one with atongue was meant for oxen.

  "Oliver," said Jonas, "I think it would be a good plan for you and Joseyto take this sled and the old General, and go with me to haul wood."

  "Well," said Oliver, "I should like it very much."

  "We can all go up together. You and Josey can be loading the horse-sled,while I load the ox-sled, and then we can drive them down, and so gettwo loads down, instead of one."

  "Well," said Oliver, "I mean to ask my father."

  "Or perhaps," continued Jonas, "you can be teamster for the oxen, andJosey can drive the horse, and so I remain up in the woods, cutting andsplitting."

  "No," said Oliver, "because we can't unload alone."

  "No," said Jonas; "I had forgotten that."

  "But I mean to ask my father," said Oliver, "to let me have the oldGeneral, and haul a load down when you come."

  So saying, the boys walked along towards the house. The sun was nowshining beautifully upon the fresh snow, making it sparkle in everydirection, all around. They walked in by the path which Oliver and Joseyhad shoveled.

  "Why didn't you make your path wider?" said Amos. "This isn't wideenough for a cow-path."

  "O, yes, Amos," said Jonas, "it will do very well. I can widen it alittle when I come out after breakfast."

  When they got to the door, Jonas stopped a moment to look around. Thefields were white in every direction, and the branches of the trees nearthe house were loaded with the snow. The air was keen and frosty, andthe breaths of the boys were visible by the vapor which was condensed bythe cold. The pond was one great level field of dazzling white. All wassilent--nothing was seen of life or motion, except that Darco, who cameout when the door was opened, looked around astonished, took a fewcautious steps along the path, and then, finding the snow too deep andcold, went back again to take her place once more by the fire.